Robotics firm Dexterity AI said Tuesday it has partnered with FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) to have robots load FedEx Ground trailers by leveraging AI-powered technology.
The first robotic truck was unveiled Tuesday at a joint event, called Unlock the Dock, held in San Francisco. FedEx is testing the technology with FedEx Ground trailers to refine its use for everyday loading tasks, Dexterity AI said in a statement.
The technology is designed to automate manual truck-loading tasks and to alleviate the complexity that comes with trying to stack the wide range of shipments that flow through the FedEx network. The technology provides mobile robots a suite of intelligence that allow the robots to see, touch, think and move quickly to pack trailers with stable, dense walls.
Dexterity AI’s mobile robot design, called DexR, navigates autonomously to the back of trailers and connects to a conveyor system that feeds packages to the robots directly from the sortation system, the company said.
The platform’s “generative wall planning” feature takes 500 milliseconds or less to assess billions of wall-build possibilities, Dexterity AI said. The platform’s AI-powered “force control” enables a sense of touch so robots can gently nudge boxes together in creating tightly packed walls.
Machine learning ensures that with every box picked, the software ensures that the robots become more efficient in handling a broader range of packing challenges, the company said.